


Two Words on a Page

by forever_doodling_tardises



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Character Death, Crossed Timelines, Ghost Javert, HELP I DON'T LIVE IN FRANCE I'M SORRY IF I MESS UP, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Suicide, Time Travel, ghost character, ish, should i just give up and set this in america
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2014-10-29
Packaged: 2018-02-23 01:53:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2529653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forever_doodling_tardises/pseuds/forever_doodling_tardises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything in timespace is out of order. This lands Valjean at a school in Paris, transferring half a year after one of the students commits suicide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Words on a Page

When Jean Valjean received his textbooks, he would always flip straight to the front to see who had owned them before him. This year, all had fairly unremarkable monikers save one. The last, in near-pristine condition, had had only one previous user. There was no first name, only, in neat letters, _Insp. Javert_. This anomaly, which most would have deemed unworthy of attention, inspired curiosity in Valjean, as well as the feeling that the name was familiar. 

"Maître Bienvenue?"

"Yes?"

"Who's this?" Jean pointed out the name to his teacher, but Fantine, one of his classmates, answered the question before Bienvenue could. "Javert. I thought everybody knew about him."

"I transferred a week ago," Valjean reminded her. 

"Right. Well," Fantine started as they walked out of class, Valjean waving hastily at Maître Bienvenue. Fantine continued: "There was this boy, Javert - I don't even know his first name, he called himself 'Inspector'. He committed suicide halfway through second term - I don't think anybody knew why. He only got here at the beginning of last year, and then just like that - gone. He jumped into the Seine. They say he was holding a rosary - the one he always had with him - when he jumped. You know what else they say?"

Valjean shook his head, and that seemed encouragement enough for Fantine. "They say that the book's haunted. 'Course," she amended, "it's not true. But that's what they say."

Valjean frowned. It all seemed so very familiar...

\---

That night, Valjean dreamed. He dreamed about another life. A rosary. A revolution. A somber-faced man who chased him across France. 

He woke up and saw something in the corner of his vision flicker. He blinked twice and a figure, standing by his desk, came into better focus. "Wha?" Still half-asleep, words escaped him. A moment later, though, whatever half-formed thought of a phrase might have been in his mind disappeared. The figure turned around. A boy, about Valjean's age, with posture that seemed almost too good for one of his age group. Broad-shouldered and wearing the school uniform that nobody wore. A ghost of a beard creeping down his cheeks. Dark, straight hair pulled back in a low ponytail. And he was clutching a rosary. His eyes, empty and bluish-green, fell on Valjean and widened. "You're him," he whispered. "I didn't want to believe it..." Then he shut his eyes very tightly. "Bye," he murmured, flickering out of existence. Something fell from where he had been standing - the rosary. He'd dropped it. Valjean frowned, picking it up. All this carried the disquieting sense of definitely having taken place before. Valjean placed the rosary in his night table, resolving to solve this mystery in the morning. 

 


End file.
